AJC > Sports > Falcons > Training Camp Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 07
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Back sidelines Forney
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Guard Kynan Forney didn’t practice today because his back tightened up a little bit during a meeting this morning.
“[Forney] worked real hard yesterday, I thought he was going to be able to go today,” Petrino said. “It’s going to be a work in progress, but it’s in better shape than it was a year ago, so that’s a good thing.
While Forney suffered a minor setback, Petrino was encouraged with the return of Laurent Robinson, the rookie wideout who is having a strong camp. Petrino said he’s still not 100 percent after tweaking his hamstring over the weekend.
One of the more interesting stories of camp is the play of Noriaki Kinoshita, who has held his own out there. The rookie wide receiver from Japan will get some playing time on Friday and has caught Petrino’s eye.
“He’s been getting more and more reps each day,” Petrino said. “He’s starting to learn what he’s doing. He’s done a nice job working hard.”
Petrino was also asked about what he’ll be looking for in his first preseason game with the Falcons. He spoke about the usual things on defense — everybody getting to the ball, solid tackling etc. Offensively, it’s all about tempo.
“I want to see our tempo in and out of the huddle, how we do at the line of scrimmage. I’d like to have zero times when we’re in trouble with the clock,” he said.
Lastly, I got confirmation that Demorrio Williams was fine after hitting the ground hard while diving to pick of a D.J. Shockley pass. It’s becoming pretty obvious that Williams only knows one speed.
Shockley throws a pair of INTs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
D.J. Shockley struggled his way through a 7-on-7 session just now. He threw a pair of interceptions and Demorrio Williams just missed another when he dove after a tipped ball.
Cornerback Antoine Harris got the first one and Allen Rossum the second.
Bobby Petrino has been saying all camp that the challenge with Williams is slowing him down. Here’s a guy who had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, and he’s stretched-out diving to pick off a pass during a passing drill. But he got up okay and didn’t seem to show any signs of injury.
Another quick note before they wrap up here, CB Brent Grimes was practicing. I haven’t seen him out there all camp, so that is a positive development for a promising young DB. Also, Kynan Forney isn’t practicing. I’ll let you know what the word on Forney is after Petrino addresses the media.
Harrington working on short game
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just wanted to jump on here real quick and give you an injury update. Looks like a lot of the crew that missed yesterday’s a.m. practice is back at it. The most notable is rookie wide receiver Laurent Robinson. Robinson missed time with a tweaked hamstring suffered during Saturday’s morning session and is on the field today.
Robinson looked good in the first practice session, taking a short Joey Harrington pass over the middle and turning on the burners.
Speaking of Harrington, he completed five of six passes during a session I just finished watching. He wasn’t exactly stretching the defense however, most of the passes were short, quick-hitters. Here’s the breakdown:
- 1-for-1 after a 10-15 yard out to Adam Jennings, who made a nice catch.
- 1-for-2 after an incompletion that was way off to Roddy White. Looked like a miscommunication between Harrington and White because the ball was sailing toward the sideline while White was running downfield.
- 2-for-3 after a dump-off to Dwayne Blakley, who by the way, is huge.
- 3-for-4 after the short completion over the middle to Robinson.
- 4-for-5 and 5-for-6 — quick completions over the middle to Michael Jenkins.
It’s worth noting that those passes weren’t against the No. 1 defense.
After that they broke into special teams. Nothing too earth shattering to report there. Jennings and Allen Rossum took turns returning kicks with the first-team kick return. But truthfully, the most impressive person out there was Ovie Mughelli. Rossum has to be looking forward to running behind him when returning kicks. He’s a load, and the last thing I’d want to see is him coming at me with a 30-yard head start.
One less kicker to watch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There will be another new body in camp today during today’s sweltering afternoon open practice. And we’ll have one less kicker to watch after the Falcons cut Aaron Elling before yesterday’s evening practice. Billy Cundiff has looked pretty good in practice and as of right now, the team seems content to give him the job for now. This doesn’t mean he’s off the hook however, he’ll still need to perform during the preseason.
Steve Wyche has speculated in the past that the Falcons might add a veteran running back and they did just that with Arlen Harris. Harris is another depth guy brought in to give the starters a breather as the preseason draws closer. Don’t read anything into Harris’ signing as far as Warrick Dunn’s injury goes.
Big Green: I haven’t seen a lot of Lang Campbell out there. He’s getting very few reps with the fourth team, especially with Bobby Petrino trying to get Joey Harrington ready and at the same time get a good look at D.J. Shockley and Chris Redman. But expect Campbell to get some time in the first preseason game against the Jets.
Duff: Tony Taylor has worked his way up to the No. 2 spot at MLB and is having a good camp. You’ll also see a lot of him on the special teams.
